A Doll's House (1959)

i look back on it now it seems as though i've been living here like a beggar making the best of whatever was offered getting by on second hand which is always yours never my own but having to pretend they were and through it all i've had to perform my little tricks and play at being wife and daughter without ever really being anything at all oh it's a wonderful play i love that play to me a doll's house is is almost the greatest of ibsen's plays and and very modern because it's not just about era or anything to do with the sexes it's really about people and it's really a very a problem that never changes dr rank at the next costume ball what shall you and i go as you shall go as good fortune my dear which is to say you will go as yourself and i i shall be invisible oh you look skeptical haven't you heard of the big black hat you put it on your head and it sinks down and covers you up and no one can see you at all i just try to learn the alliance cues in business and hope something comes out you know and uh get acquainted with the uh attitudes of my fellow actors and and i hope the director will sort of pull it together [Music] ladies and gentlemen your host mr richard thomas those of you familiar with this series know that each of the programs from the golden age is hosted by a personality whose roots go back to the 1950s well there may be some raising of eyebrows at my appearing as host for the 1959 production of a doll's house so in order to authenticate my credentials i'd like to show you a clip of a very young richard thomas playing one of nora's children from that production i'll blink your eyes and i'm gone nevertheless as an apprentice actor i was very very lucky to grow up surrounded by people like tonight's cast julie harris christopher plummer jason robards eileen heckert and hume cronin and of course to be directed by a man like george shaffer who recalls the unique excitement of live television drama when those things went on the air was like being up in an early airplane sometimes with a somewhat choppy motor but it was exciting it was a real high it was the the most sustained kind of crazy excitement that i think i've you know ever known at the end of the 90 minutes you'd end you'd be exhausted you'd sort of settle down take many an hour before you came down to earth but it was challenging and it was rewarding and i miss it terribly live television was like being in the theater we rehearsed we had period of rehearsal where we could break a play down start working putting it on his feet learning it moving it and it uh outside of the audience it was very close to the theatrical work i felt i mean i didn't even think about working for the camera we felt like we gave our performance that we had rehearsed what you do in a play and for good or for worse this is it this is what we offer you and it had it had continuity had no it had a beginning a middle and an end it had a kind of theatrical excitement all those television dramas that were live because we were there on and we were doing it live we weren't perfecting it i haven't seen it at all i've never seen it because it was done live and i and i never saw it i lived through it it's fascinating isn't it julie harris and myself jason chris and the others i suppose will be seeing this show tonight for the first time because when we did it we did it live live yeah i've been on a set where cast and crew will burst into applause after we complete a scene of maybe a minute or two in length but in the doll's house the actors had to go it for 90 minutes no second takes well it helped that they were young certainly i was at eight years old but there were tensions and the tensions showed up of course in different ways for instance the night before this play was broadcast the cast had a party now george shaffer recalls how the party led to a rather hairy time the next day now although he did not attend he received a report from james costigan the writer who adapted this work i did get word from mr costigan that when he left the party at a decent hour sort of hinting you know tomorrow is the show's live uh that he got much profanity and cat calls and hoots and howls from chris and jason who are still drinking rather heavily well the next day we got to the studio for the final dress rehearsal that afternoon the show went on at 7 30 that night and neither of the gentlemen had appeared yet and george shaffer who was directing came to me and he said because i said what's the delay what's the delay and he said jason and chris aren't here we don't know where they are they were out together all night and nobody can find them i said yeah you can't be true we have to i said what are you going to do well i said we're looking we're looking and of course julie you know she's such a saint she wouldn't say words she sweat out head with her makeup and everything and i said she only it's been a half an hour now and this crew is sitting around it'll all be fine and shaffer who must have been dying inside it's not saying a word and finally jason rolled in he was the first one and then it took another hour i think to find chris how those two got through that performance is i've never seen so much perspiration in my whole life i've been up all night and you can't believe they're such solid sober citizens today right they were wild i i think i found a rather pretty girl at night or something and i woke up very late in the morning not probably terribly having been terribly successful anyway um and uh two dr gone and realized that of course they were all waiting for me down there i'd never never done that before i really actually hadn't i always was on time even though i lived it up a little bit but that time was unbelievable and of course ironically it would be that very 19th century pure attitude of ibsens that made us probably be naughtier than ever and they finally came reeling in having apparently not been to bed having spent the night on the town i remember chris had a cut on his leg i believe both were in really terrible condition and i think we're out to prove which one could give the best performance under those circumstances which is never very good on the director or the rest of the cast oddly enough as you see when you see the performance uh it doesn't it doesn't show very much it uh they probably both met their challenge but it was an unnerving memory from those days i never got into fights i was too much of a car to get into fights and i was too really good natured to uh to get into a fight and if it did get violent i would leave cowardly and in time to avoid the fight i probably hit myself on a door or something stupid i i'm still thinking about george shaffer saying chris came in with a gash on his lip if he fell asleep in rehearsal how could he know what went on [Laughter] he used a wheelchair because he had he had a problem with his feet his arches i guess and he didn't want to be on his feet all day long i found that in live television where you're being four or more cameras and constantly walking on those awful hard floors at the end of the day i would be a basket case so i very practically got myself a wheelchair and it became my trademark for many years i would literally direct in a wheelchair all day long wheeling around pretending i was a camera making all my little notes and getting up relaxed and refreshed at the end of it but in the afternoon when he would watch the whole play he would sit in one spot and then he would begin to nod he always did either after lunch he'd fall asleep while we were doing a run through so we just pushed him into an empty room with a lot of chairs and he woke up in a dark room with just hundreds of chairs there was a catering establishment on second avenue that re-rehearsed it so if he can't do that how can he say by chris that he had a gash on his lid high tension high jinx but also in those golden days high purpose people cared deeply and with passion about their work it was a wonderful atmosphere to grow up in as a young actor and a unique opportunity to learn two crafts at once we had to sustain the immediacy the energy the one-take quality of a live theatrical performance and combine that with the numerous techniques of working in front of the camera those of us who were cutting our teeth in those days really had the opportunity of learning two techniques at once it was extraordinary and although the situation was more primitive than it is today we were all pioneering the art of television as we know it now when we decided to do ibsen's doll's house on hallmark in 59 i went back and read the existing translations and stage versions and none of them suited us the the standard textbook one is too stuffy the theatrical ones didn't seem right and so i went to james costigan who was our favorite hallmark writer still is in most ways my favorite writer and uh asked james if he would do a whole new translation for us and he was primarily involved in in writing originals he had written that beautiful little moon evolved in the year before for us but uh he he said all right i'll take a crack at it and we then hired a scholar in the norwegian to translate it syllable for syllable just the way ibsen wrote it and working from that james costigan came up with the version uh uh that you're showing again which any number of ibsen scholars said to me afterwards they found was the truest that they'd ever heard to the original play those who could read the original norwegian which i cannot oh it's a wonderful play i love that play to me a doll's house is is almost the greatest of ibsen's plays and and very modern because it's not just about era or anything to do with the sexes it's really about people and it's really a very a problem that never changes that two people have to who say they want to make their lives together really have to struggle in order to do that and if somebody uh if one of the partners in a marriage uh is dishonest in a way you know about saying well this is my little wife and she can't do anything and she's so precious and darling and keeps her like a little doll well it's bound to something is bound to happen to that because she's she's a human being just as he is i think it's a wonderful play i love the way you know where nora keeps saying i know it's going to be all right i know that torvald i know i'm waiting for the miracle of course he's as human as any of us and when he realizes that he will have to go to prison that she's asking him to go to prison for her she wouldn't allow him to do it but she's she's expecting him to say oh don't worry darling i will take the blame and he doesn't he doesn't love her that much which makes her say oh yes so it's not the way you said it was yes then the door slam and she leaves to she leaves really to um discover herself which is what we all do you'll see no car crashes tonight scenes will last longer than 30 seconds or a minute but what you will see preserved on black and white kinescope is a piece of television history brought back for you to enjoy here for the second time ever on national television is the live performance as seen on that night the 15th of november 1959 of henrik ibsen's a doll's house i had a little house the prettiest ever know [Music] the prettiest ever seen she washed [Music] no i'm all right take the tree from the porter hurry i hear the children coming hide it in the sitting room they must see it for tonight just a moment please i'm sure i don't know what you're talking about what's more i don't even know who you are i've never seen any of you before in my life oh mommy you know these strange children i don't i found them in the nursery upstairs and i'm taking them off to the park to inquire if anyone there is lost a very good idea are they all dressed warmly it's never so funny to me you smell good have you been at my perfume did you bring us anything cookie cookies you know what your father would say if i brought cookies home with me yes but did you well you won't tell on me well i just might might i said might have a little bag of macaroons under my magic cloak shall i look yes yes is he in the study all right no oh don't tell me i left him in the carriage no no voila look something new chocolate bottoms they're beautiful one for each of you and one for mommy shall i all right now take them outside hurry before daddy comes out and scolds us come back soon you better go in and warm yourself by the fire oh [Music] oh is that my little bird twittering out there my little squirrel i'm not a squirrel i'm a spanish seductress come to work my magic powers on you that was me you heard doing an exotic dance to lure you away from your work do i attempt you senor no and you shouldn't try i have these papers to finish and then i've got to deliver them to my client and i'll see you again oh please no i have a song laura i have work to do look just one minute something i want to show you look what i bought oh no oh oh well why not it's the first christmas we haven't had to scrimp we can afford to be a little reckless now can't we after all we're going to be rich soon we're not going to be rich we're going to have a little more money yes but not until after the first of the year and then we won't even be aware of the difference till the end of the day it's all right we can borrow till then morrow i'm sorry you know that kind of talk upsets me i know i know i'm sorry i don't suck now come on show me what you bought well i got a cart for bobby and a drum fiver and then a new dog no no that's yours well where's norris don't tell me my little spencer forgot to buy herself something i don't want anything oh come on now tell me what you want something reasonable well if if you really want to give me something if i do yes what will it be some money tour want money only a little whatever you can spare and then later on i can buy myself something all right please and i'll wrap it up in gold paper and hang it on the christmas tree wouldn't that be fun oh great fun wonderful fun my adorable little fool well how many names i have for you the one that keeps coming round and round like the brass ring on the carousel is spent through now you're very sweet and you are very dear but you are very expensive shame on you you know i save all i can exactly all you can you can't save anything well you know how many responsibilities we locks and squirrels have darling i know i know you can't help it it's in your blood oh torvald well it's true you're exactly like your father no i'm not always on the lookout for money and then completely honest what's your name charcoal what my little sweet toothy nibbling again hasn't she i have been you sure a little candy perhaps macaroon who ever heard of chocolate macaroon well that's that's probably soot from the carriage ride the window was open really troubled you are awful well you know i wouldn't think of going against your wish i know i apologize forgive me yes but you mustn't be cranky not on christmas eve yes hawaii i'm sorry sir dr rank is here tell him he's expected to suffer tonight elaine where did you put the tree behind the sofa would you help me clear these packages away and would you bring some tea please yes all ready oh excuse me madam but there's a lady waiting to see you oh who is it she didn't give her name shall i ask her no no it's all right i'll come out yes hello nora hello you don't know me do you no i wait a minute is it yeah christine yes oh i'm sorry christine i can't realize it you you mustn't blame me you've changed i suspect i have it's almost 10 years 10 years and now here you are by steamer this morning oh this makes it a perfect christmas we have so much to talk about so much to catch up with wait a minute doctor you're expected for supper good afternoon norah thank you come in here there's a sign i'll take off your things you're not gonna run right off and i've just found you again oh now i know you better you're a little pale that's all nonsense i'm changed and i know it i'm old oh you're not yes i am i'm a dowdy old widow lady i read about it elaine would you bring another cup please for mrs when did it happen his death three years ago and you had no children did he leave you anything nothing not even grief oh don't say that you make me feel guilty for why for having so much i have three wonderful children christine and my husband has just been named manager of the joint stock bank after the first of the year he won't be just a little lawyer anymore living from case to case he'll be an executive with a big salary and lots of percentages isn't it oh it's been hard for us christine torvald wouldn't accept just any case i mean he has very firm principles about what's proper and what isn't so we both had to work extra hard you two oh well just little things needlework and embroidery portables the one who really exhausted himself the second year we were married he became very ill i remember i heard that you'd gone to italy we had to the doctor said it was the only thing that would save him we had to stay a whole year wasn't easy i can imagine it was just about the time iver was born still it was the only way why it must have cost a fortune it did we got it from my father and that part was awful too because he was so ill at the time he died yes christine that was the worst time of my life i love that old man so and i couldn't even be there to nurse him because they said i'd lose my baby if i made the trip so he died alone i couldn't even go to the funeral no well anyway we went to italy and torvald got his health back and completely better than before within the doctors doctor dr rank no he's just our friend no christine we are very lucky people we have health and love and a wonderful home and now we're going to be rich oh i'm sorry for what not being happy it's no cry i didn't mean to boast don't be angry i'm not now you tell me about you why did you marry a man you didn't love he asked me oh chris well he had money my mother was ill and i had two small brothers it was all right for a while and then his business failed and he had a stroke and i went to work in a shop 12 hours a day six days a week until he died oh chris oh it's all right now mother's gone too and well the boys don't need me anymore was that why you came to town well it's a change i had to do something but you look so tired wouldn't it be better if you went to a resort what i haven't got any father to give me the money oh nora i'm sorry that's the worst of my sort of life that makes you so bitter you know what i thought when you told me about your husband's new job i thought how wonderful maybe he can do something for me well maybe he can it's worth a try oh dear pain and trouble have a way of passing you right by but you always had a kind heart passing me by trouble well a little needle word oh just one minute the worst that came of it eye strain or stiffness christine it's nothing against you but you are a child am i it's very arrogant of you to say so well you're supposed to be my friend now you're talking just like all the others as though i'm not fit for anything really serious you think you're the only one who's done something to be very proud of i have a secret i've never shared with anyone i have something in my life something i have done which i am very very proud and yet you tell no one whom should i tell are you really my friend i've always thought so you must never repeat it to a living soul torvald must never know it was i who saved his life saved his life he would have died if we hadn't gone to italy that trip cost four thousand eight hundred crimes it's your father my father never had that kind of money then you got how did you win the lottery laura how did you raise that much well you couldn't have borrowed it why not well because a wife can't borrow without her husband's consent no no you didn't do it without his concern what did i say i did after all i might have got it from an admirer i'm not bad looking am i nor you're a man well i have you interested now haven't i maybe your opinion of poor silly little nora is changing a bit something isn't it i got the money christine i all by myself i saved my husband's life without his even knowing how did you pay it back pay i'm still paying in regular installments out of my allowance and sometimes i cheat a little on the housekeeping money when i can i take odd jobs anything last winter i got a lot of copying to dora how much have you managed to pay off well i don't know exactly it's all very complicated every cent i could but it doesn't matter now as soon as torvald's new job begins i'll have enough of my own to settle it and then i'll be free you know i'm really looking forward to the spring this year it's all right i'm not expecting anyone it's probably a client of four balls who is it elaine it's hi mrs helmet you yes i've come to see your husband what about just a business matter i hold a small post at the joint stock bank and today it was announced that your husband is to be our new chief so this is just just routine business mrs helmer nothing more my husband is in his study uh helene would you be good enough to announce this gentleman to mr helmer who was that man nora who was that man i don't know a mr um krogstad he's a lawyer i think but you do know him we both do why he used to have a practice in our town years ago did he oh yes i believe he did what does he do now oh really christine i don't know anything about him you remember dr ray including not at all come in your husband has a visitor and so have i all the way from my hometown mrs lynn dr ray how do you do i believe i passed you on the steps outside yes you did i can't manage the steps very well anymore your heart i don't think so just overwork fatigue and you've come to the city for a rest no to look for a job ah well that must be some new remedy for overwork that has not yet appeared in the medical journal one has to live doctor that is the general opinion yes however theoretical theoretical you want to live don't you certainly no matter how wretched i may be i want to hang on as long as possible a characteristic that man shares with pigs and other inferior forms of animal life even that peculiar individual calling on your husband who that man krogstad well you wouldn't know him but he's a bad life but even he began talking about having to live as if it was something of vast importance his miserable little life i didn't know he worked for the bank man like that who goes about praying on the weak looking for that little touch of moral rot and then feeding on it like a worm and a piece of fruit perhaps he's weak too perhaps he needs help yep there you are that's the sort of reasoning that is turning society into a hospital why do you laugh do you have any notion of what society really is who cares about your tires of society i was laughing at something else dr rank will all the employees of the joint stock bank be dependent on torvald from now on is that what you find so immunity it's just funny to think that we the tour balls will have so much power over so many people would you like a macaroon i thought they were forbidden here they are but uh these are some christine broccoli and how would she to know that torbol thinks they spoil the teeth go on and one for mummy did you get rid of him darling yes finally come i want you to meet an old friend of mine do you remember my telling you about school and my friend christine well it's christine lynn now mrs linden here she is imagine thomas she's come all this way just to see you nora well practically she's enormously good at office work and very anxious to work under some clever man in order to perfect herself very sensible what better clever man could she find in the whole city than you you will do something for won't you from icing i think something can be arranged yeah you see how can i thank you you already have by being my wife's friend coming with me rank on the contrary my carriage is just outside can we give you a lift if you would i must look for a room put yourself in our hands there lady i wish we had room for you here oh don't be silly you will come back for supper won't you oh i'd love to now bundle up warm all of you i don't want anyone catching cold nothing's to spoil this christmas eve hurry home look christine those are my children aren't they beautiful you've been in the park haven't you my darling did you see punching take their things off and shall i go and fix some hot chocolate please thank you it's a wildlife game do you know it i used to you play with that here's my scarf all right now i'll tie it around then you have to spin me around very fast can you see marvel no darling no spin mirror off very fast oh my head now are you all ready ah you're not gonna help me well then i'll just have to find you all by myself oh something strange everybody stopped suddenly didn't you it's a plot who is that behind me it's ivor oh you're all very clever never mind i'll catch you it's bobby isn't he go and see if anne marie has your chocolate ready game we'll play again after a while you don't are you all right yes darling i'll call you in a few minutes go on forgive my coming here this way you never would you can imagine how extreme the provocation must have been it's not the first of the month yet no no of course it isn't it's christmas eve hardly a day for anything so vulgar as talk of money no this is a time for good will and generosity you surely didn't call to tell me that only to remind you i i need your good will now mrs helmer i need your generation please come to the point how impatient you my husband will be home soon very well i'll be brief you must intercede with him on my behalf let me finish since you're in such a hurry i was in trouble once some years ago oh uh i didn't go to jail the matter never even came to court but the word got round there wasn't a respectable firm in all the country would give me a janitor's pale and mop after that let alone a position commensurate with my education and background that's how i happen to fall into the business of as well you know all about that what you didn't know perhaps was that i had four motherless sons to provide for i did what i had to do but now i want to put all that behind me my boys are growing up when i got this job at the bank it was as though someone had given me a hand up after years of being snubbed and despised so what i'd done had been forgotten or perhaps forgiven now comes your husband to kick me back into the mud again why do you say that oh he will never fear he's not a man to forget anything let alone forgive he is so utterly virtuous himself he couldn't possibly tolerate my working there in the bank with him unless unless unless someone were to influence him to do so what if i refuse i'm desperate mrs hellman i couldn't bear to have him learn the truth from you you really think the worst thing you have to fear in all this is your husband's disenchantment well now you're going on like a lawyer i i don't i don't understand you let me see if i understand you when your husband was ill you came to me with a request to borrow rather a large sum of money which i supplied in exchange for your promissory now we both know all that you signed that note and under your signature i added a brief clause stipulating that your father should guarantee the debt you took the paper away and you brought it back five days later saying that your father had signed and returned it to you by mail i remember you said he was very ill at the time he was he died not long after he died on the 29th of september to be exact now isn't it a curious thing what that his signature on this note is dated october the second three days after his death how very careless of him of how very untidy not to speak of my father he never saw your wretched paper you you know perfectly well that i signed his name he was he was too ill to be troubled why didn't you consult your husband he was ill too i had to take it on myself did it never occur to you that you were committing a forgery it's obvious you don't clearly realize what it is you've been guilty of let me tell you however it's every bit as serious as the thing i once did and that has dogged and haunted me all the years of my life has virtually ruined my life noble all right what i did was wrong but why i didn't law is not interested in motives i don't believe that i'm afraid i can't place much faith in your knowledge of the law think what you like of me but i do know something of this sort of business that you and i are mixed up in together i think you'll at least agree to that anyway you know my mind now that's all i came for i'll say good day just so we understand one another perfectly if i am made to suffer a second time you shall keep me company dreadful man it's all nonsense oh you're a very pretty tree you're going to look lovely who are you talking to myself i didn't hear you come in is there someone here just now no no one what's i thought i saw up start leaving the house did you oh well well yes he was here just for a moment i forgot forgot laura no no why did he come back why he wanted you to put in a good word for him wasn't it yes exactly and you were to do it as if it had been your own idea without telling me he'd been here wasn't that part of it you could condescend to a thing like that you could conspire with a man like that make him a promise and then lie to me about it lie to you didn't you tell me no one had been here now you must never do that again my darling i want my little bird to sing clear and true no false notes remember that well that's all we will say on the subject of mr crosstalk the issue was closed was it was it really so awful the thing he did he committed isn't it isn't it possible he was driven to it yes i'm not so heartless as to condemn a man for a single error of that kind of course you wouldn't there's always hope a man may rehabilitate himself if he admits his guilt and accepts his punishment punishment croaks that didn't do that he resorted to lies and subterfuge instead you may think now that he's come through it all right he's fit to move in decent company but he's wrong drugstore is thoroughly corrupt it's not the worst of us what is the worst of it why is children don't you think they suffer from it an incidence of lies and deceit can't be isolated it's contagious it will infect and poison the whole life of the home every breath the children take in such a house is full of germs germs for every delinquent child you may be well assured that somewhere there's a dishonest mother only mothers no not only mothers of course the father can be just as much to blame and this krog stat has been poisoning his own children for years that's the thing i can't forgive him for that's why i don't want my precious little naughter to take his part and give me a hand all right that's settled we won't say anything more about it i know you understand it would be impossible for me to keep in mind at the bank i have to get on with the tree all right i still have a few odds and ends to clear up my study i may even find a little something to wrap up in gold paper and hang on the tree you know i adore you little bird no it isn't true it can't be true may i bring the children and now they're begging to finish their way i i can't see them just now oh do let them come you didn't play with them not now i'm sorry emery i can't see them just now you keep them with you i can't see them just now yes madam my babies i couldn't ever hurt them poison my own home oh god it isn't true is it isn't true it isn't true [Music] did you hear something the bell no i'm sure there's someone there no there's no one it wasn't the other time either come here sit down i thought it might be the postman on christmas day it doesn't seem like christmas somehow that's because we celebrated last night all right we're so good of you to ask oh did you really enjoy it no that's the wrong ribbon it's this one do you mind doing this for me of course not i'm so clumsy with a needle i really expected to have a new costume for the steinborg's ball tomorrow but torvald wants me to wear this it's a neapolitan peasant stress he bought it for me when we were in capri and i learned to dance the tarantella in it just to please him now he insisted i do it at the ball you mean alone a solo isn't it awful if it makes him happy he was certainly gay last night unlike dr rank what a gloomy man he is oh you mustn't mind him it's only that he's not well poor darling he has some some sort of spinal disease it seems his father was quite a dissolute man with very rich appetites for food and women that's the result it's awful to have to pay for someone else's pleasure no wonder he seems cranky sometimes you're very fond of him aren't you very i think i can guess who it was who loaned you the 4 800 crowns dr rank don't be silly i hardly knew him then anyway it would never occur to me to ask him for money wouldn't he give it i don't know absolutely necessary but it won't be willa christine i've got to get free of this thing i've got to get that rotten piece of paper there's someone oh it's totaled i must speak to him do you have any more of the purple thread sewing room upstairs helene will show you hey i've been so anxious is that the dressmaker in there no i i didn't send you christine is helping me you haven't said whether i may come in or not i know you don't like me to come in here without permission oh come in by all means only for a moment well it's no holiday for me my darling i mean down at the back look i've got all this to clear up before i start work next monday if your little squirrel were to beg you very sweetly and very your squirrel would jump all about and do all sorts of marvelous tricks you'd only say yes say yes to what your little sparrow would sing all day long my sparrow does that anyway i'll be a little wood sprite for you to is it what you headed out this morning yes you dare to bring this up again i do yes you must give in to me this once you must let kroger keep his place in the basement really this is the most incredible obstacle you see just because you you you were self-taught enough to promise to intercede no that's not the reason the man is malicious well you know how dangerous he can be he might uh he might write letters he might malign you to your superiors anything what can i say to make you change your mind nothing the issue is already closed i thought it was dispatched to crookster from the bank before i came home today a letter a letter of dismissal but you didn't most assuredly did we got it back what get it back quickly while there's still time travel please for my sake for yours for the children you don't know what will happen to us all if you don't stop it nora it's too late too late i'm not angry with you for being afraid of what crookstep might do in retaliation i know it's because you love me but i'm not afraid when the time comes if it comes you'll see i'll be man enough to take it all out of myself what do you mean everything the whole burden whatever it is no i wouldn't let you then we'll share it as man and wife the way it should be you're happy now why don't you go and practice your time you can close both doors between make all the noise you like i want the other thing elaine ann marie there's someone at the door christine are you there oh doctor is that all the greeting is that all the apology and we have uh i'm not interrupting anything you know i always have time for you yes well i'll make use of that so long as i can now what sort of riddle is that come here come in and sit by the fire you're not thinking of going away are you yes quite far away was it certain doctor and patient despair of one another i know because i'm both when soon very soon but i want you to promise me something i want you to do everything possible to keep helmer out of my sick room how can i i won't have him there i know how ugly seems disgusting that's his nature if he comes i'll shut the door on him i promise you as soon as i definitely know the worst i'll send you one of my calling cards with a black cross marked on it oh doctor well you'll know that the final moment has come and you must keep him away from me you are awful i was counting on you to cheer me up let me think of a joke what's this that's my tambourine you see me dance at the ball tomorrow you can pretend that i'm dancing just for you and for torvald of course of course huh what have we here you found them i looked everywhere those are silk stockings dr egg flesh-colored silk stockings for the shapely legs of the little neapolitan dancing girl should i put them on all right now turn your back you're only allowed to see my foot now nonsense i won't be deprived very well then you can't see anything nothing at all no because you're very naughty you mind my calling you that i've asked you to a thousand times you're the one who always insisted on formality i know but being here with you like this so informally i wonder what would happen to me all these years if i hadn't had this house to come to i know but you you mustn't stop putting into words things that are taken for granted well i can't help it when i think of leaving all the ways you're not leaving what have i ever done in return for all your kindness what single service of favor have i ever been able to render you is that so important it is to me well what if i asked no what for proof of your friendship no i i don't mean that i mean for a very great favor you'd be granting me the greatest happiness of my life this there's something you've got to help me to prevent you know how much trouble loves me he wouldn't hesitate a second to sacrifice his life for me you think he's the only one you think there's no one else who would gladly lay down his life for you but you're not being serious i think not my beloved nora my dear i love you i've always loved you i've always loved you let me go now you know you can trust me more than anyone else in the world nora please how very tactless of your doctor but loving you was that tactless no but to speak of it it wasn't necessary you mean you knew did you know did you always know maybe i did maybe i didn't i don't know what does it matter why did you have to speak just when everything was going along so well forget what i said then just tell me what i can do to serve you nothing you can't do anything i couldn't ask it of you not now nora please i can't even remember what it was it was probably all in my imagination anyway you really are a fine fellow aren't you a little ashamed now that the lamp is here no curiously enough i'm not well perhaps i'd better go perhaps i'd better go for good you'll stay right where you are and you'll you'll keep on coming just as you always have to or what couldn't get on without you and what about you i always enjoy your company you've always seemed to there were even times when i almost thought you'd rather be with me than with him isn't it true there are people one loves most and yet others whom one prefers to be with excuse me what is it what's wrong nothing ma'am could i speak to you for a moment where is he in the kitchen he came to the back door can't you get rid of him he says he won't leave till he sees you all right give me a few minutes would you like to go into touhou now you want to get rid of me oh how disagreeable you are come on you know he's waiting for you i'll deliver you to him personally you have another admirer waiting don't you i only want you to think i have i'd like to make you german yeah very promising young doctor to see mr helm come here come here you be careful of your daughter he's in a very cantankerous mood sounds like a lawyer's wife please i won't resort to back stairs and kitchen i must see what will be here in my own sitting room i'm not thoroughly degraded please keep your voice down my husband is at home you know i've been dismissed don't you couldn't prevent it i tried believe me i tried but i couldn't it's up to me isn't it what would you do i've written a letter to your husband a letter yes that seemed quite appropriate i could sense how much he relished writing his letter to me so i took great care with mine to him in it i tell him everything tear it up please he mustn't see it i'll find a way to get you the money i'll pay you more than the balance on i know just tell me how much you want i don't get that money mrs helmer well then why i want this dismissal withdrawn but more more than that i want a promotion promotion yes to a higher post at the bank i also require certain guarantees i wish to be assured that within one year i shall hold a position second only in authority to that of your husband after that there will be opportunity enough to see who is best qualified to rule this background can't be serious torval will never agree to that neither will i i'd rather what run away perhaps perhaps or perhaps something even more desperate forget it noble lady everybody thinks of that i did but when the time came i didn't have the courage and you a delicate little lady like you you don't know me you don't know what i might be capable of how would you do it the river perhaps under the ice down in that freezing pitch black water and when the spring comes when the ice melts to float up hideous hairless bloated beyond recognition and to what a veil i'd still have the means to impugn your good name i'd still have that to hold over his head how long do you mean to stay here obviously you only came to torment me while you succeeded why don't you go you think i enjoy doing this don't you uh whether i do or not i want you to remember that it was your husband who drove me to it i want that made quite clear it was he i did everything but the seam at the waist i think you better try that on me laura what is it there's a letter in the mailbox and tour board has the only key well it's from krogstaff okay crooksted lend you the money yes and not tour but we'll find out nora maybe that's fair how can you talk about what's best you don't know the worst yet that note i signed wasn't legal i put my father's signature on it and guarantee i committed a forgery in any case now you know you're my witness if anyone else should try to assume responsibility should try to take the blame on himself you at least know that it was all my own doing no one else i don't understand well of course you don't it's just that this thing this wonderful thing is about to happen what thing the wonderful thing christine honey it mustn't happen i mustn't allow it to happen how long ago did krogstad leave for a few minutes well maybe i can capture he's probably waiting for a trolley at the bottom too late chris he won't listen time was when he'd have done anything for me for you yes i didn't mean to sound so casual yesterday when i said i remembered him from home i loved him once a long time ago are you practicing yes dear yes i am i know for just a moment it's too late he's letters there he will have to find an excuse to ask his return now you keep your husband away from the mailbox until i get back charlie you're practicing too hard look a little feverish no i i i'm terribly nervous about the ball tomorrow or a tour board you you must stay with me tonight you must stay with me no bank business no papers you stay with me until i can dance just as i used to promise all right my helpless little darling tonight i shall devote myself exclusively to you but where are you going someone left the door john this christmas is no delivery silly but there is on christmas eve silly and i neglected to look yesterday's been on my mind all right no no you you promised to help me you you said you'd be mine exclusively are you really that bright yes i am terribly frightened and i i have to begin right away it's time for dinner no not quite please please joe but i want to dance please will you play for me please [Music] no no please not from the beginning [Music] do [Music] ah [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] spirited but highly accurate laura i'm surprised that you have forgotten every saturday ever in yours you see you see how much i need you you you mustn't give a thought to anything until tomorrow night is behind us you you mustn't open any letters you mustn't even look in the mailbox nothing would almost come between us until after the ball table is set madam we're coming all right just this one have champagne champagne we're extravagant why not it's an occasion go on youtube i want a word with christine well i couldn't find him i looked everywhere it's just as well perhaps it's fate nothing is to prevent the wonderful thing from happening nora i don't know what wonderful thing you're talking about never mind you go and join the others i i need a minute to pull myself together five o'clock seven hours before midnight 24 until tomorrow midnight and then the tarantella will be over 24 plus seven 31 hours and then my little sparrow she's here [Music] i built a little house beside a little stream but weeping swelled the water and round my little dream [Music] hello niels i can't believe it um have i changed so much oh i expect we both have been a long time come in you're very late i've been out all evening i only just got your message it was quite a surprise come in here we don't want to wake in i've waited a long time to see you again i thought about it often why of all places did it have to be here i couldn't ask you to my quarters callers aren't permitted where are the helmets over there at the stenborgs it's some sort of fancy dress ball you can hear the music you mean they went dancing tonight yes this really is a night for surprises there's such a lot to be said isn't there yes and no time well there never was for us just when it seemed it would be just when we had the hope of spending all our lives together you spoiled it why did you why did you spoil it oh i knew the reasons he had money and i didn't his mother was ill your mother i mean the children needed supporting none of that made it any easier to bear it was very easy for me of course i never got over it christine nothing's ever gone right for me since not even your marriage oh at least of all she died you know we had four children together and we really never knew one another at all it sounds familiar i i feel like something washed up on the shore and left for scavengers to prey on oh no you always didn't have a lawyer's mind for images well i'm shipwrecked too [Music] do you think we could do you think we really might start again actually i think that's the reason i came to the city i still hoped oh god if only it could be true i need someone so desperately depend on me i brought my brothers up your son shouldn't be so difficult do you think they might come to depend on me a little you wouldn't hate me because of my past i blame myself none of those things would have happened if i'd been with you you shame me i can't talk to you here in this house you don't know everything listen they're playing the turn tell her the helmers will be you'll be home as soon as it's over you must go chris i've done these people a great wrong i know all about it and you can forgive me at first i was going to ask you to take your letter back that was part of my reasoning sending the note perhaps i could get it no i i i could wait outside for helmer i could no nails it won't do i've had a lot of time to think while i've been sitting here waiting for you i've seen some incredible things in this house that almost happened peacefully well it's all alive i think that their only hope lies in humber's finding out the whole truth that's the only way they're ever going to come to any sort of understanding all right but there is one thing i can do to make a man tell me tomorrow shall i see you tomorrow yes and the next day good night good night come this way it's cold in here now going in by the fireworks chris uh how did you mend i didn't realize you were here well i just missed you i came right after you've gone and you waited all this time yes i did so want to see her in her costume well certainly you have every right to since you repaired it well what do you think oh norah you look lovely it was a great success they would have kept her dancing all night but i snatched her away isn't anyone else cold i'm going to put some wood on the fire what's wrong i've seen crooks dead what did he say you have nothing to fear from him anymore chris norah you must tell your husband you must tell him no i can't then it's best that he read the letter perhaps you're right got a good place going now will you stay a little i can't good night mr helmer please don't bother nora don't be stubborn anymore well spoken as well good night christine thank you good night good night at last i find it quite tiresome you are mrs lynde she's my true friend hi darling yes come did you notice what a figure rank was cutting tonight no no he was quite the happiest man at the ball i've never seen him so gay mmm your skin smells so good i'm a little gypsy no don't look at me that way no why not why not you belong to me don't you you're so warm you still have the talentella in your blood you know that if you only knew how exciting that makes you if you insist on talking to me like this i'll go upstairs good i'll follow you listen how quiet the house is just as if there was no one here with us you know something you know i i stay away from you at parties like this one i send you little stolen glances across the room from time to time it's because i pretend that you're my secret love that was secretly engaged and that no one has any idea there's anything between us two i know you only think of me talking when it's time to leave i put the shawl about your shoulders your fine young shoulders your lovely neck and then i pretend that you're my little bride you've just come home from our wedding i bring you into my house for the first time and for the first time i'm all alone with you look at me no i'm trembling like a boy on his wedding night i have to bring you home early i don't want don't want your teasing aren't you i'm your husband oh i saw your light and i knew you'd be terribly disappointed if i didn't stop by to say good night all over again we have been inconsolable of course of course did you drink as much champagne as i i don't think anyone did well no one had as much right after all i made a very important scientific discovery today so why not celebrate it was a very significant party give me a cigar dr rank at the next costume ball what shall you and i go as you shall go as good fortune my dear which is to say you will go as yourself and i i shall be invisible oh you look skeptical haven't you heard of the big black hat you put it on your head and it sinks down and covers you up and no one can see you at all well thank you that's really all i came for good night good night old friend sleep well doctor thanks for the wish me the same i wish you whatever you want that's a foul signal [Laughter] uh he remember his type are you going to open the mailbox now yes i want to leave some room for papers in the morning rank right what's up what frank left his call my god in the mailbox he must have put it up before he rang the bell he's made a black mark across his name as if he were reporting his own death just going for that that's not funny that's morbid i mean i don't never mind it is bringing his pain and loneliness to us because in a curious way it made our own happiness seem more complete still he ought not take advantage i can't get you close enough sometimes i wish that something awful would happen to threaten you so that i could risk everything for your sake you'd better read your mail i want to be with you tomorrow go and read it i'll make some coffee well perhaps i will have a cup all right call me when it's ready and turn on some of those lights will you love no sense i'm wasting gas at this huh yes laura come in here at once is it true yes but you're not to try to save me you're not to sacrifice nora why love for what for you you don't expect me to believe that do you yes that's only an excuse and you're not excuse what have i to do with excuses liars always mistake an easy answer for an explanation am i a liar a liar a cheat and a fraud and i think how proud i've been of you oh you're a criminal you're everything your father was and worse because you broken my heart you've ruined me you destroyed my future oh no you don't it's not that easy i suppose you'd like to run away leave me in krogstad's hands that's where you put me isn't it he can do anything he likes now and i don't protest do you eat him vaguely understand what you've done to me yes there's only one thing to do no matter how we started with prostate you and i must go on exactly as before what only for the sake of appearances you'll remain in the house naturally you won't be allowed to bring up the children i couldn't possibly trust them to you now it's an awful thing to have to say to you but it's true there's no possibility of our salvation anything that's been between us the best we can do is say whatever face we can it's almost midnight he wouldn't dare [Music] obviously to compound the threat [Applause] nora well god nora i'm saved and i you too of course we're both saved look he sent back your bond he says regrets everything he did something about a change in his life never mind the point is he can do nothing to harm you now it's all over that was why he really came on christmas eve oh oh oh must have been in hell these past three days now what does it matter just as you said it's all over let's just keep saying it over and over it's done it's finished and it'll all be forgotten you think so yes we'll forget and i'll forgive you norah i know you only acted out of love for me you understand that now of course it's just that you went about it in such a foolish way can't possibly think you're any less dear to me because of one silly mistake can't you see it'll make you even more precious to me now because you'll be more dependent on me than ever where are you going i want to go into the city you're still my little bird after all aren't you still my straight little squirrel [Music] you couldn't possibly manage without me to look after you and protect you now could you why are you doing that sit down why because i want to talk to you not not in your room in here in the room where the life of the house is supposed to be shared what is it what's wrong now you look so strange you're frightening me i don't mean to it's only because you you don't understand me you never have i've never understood you either until tonight no doesn't this doesn't seem strange to you why just this the way we're sitting here facing each other doesn't it seem in any way strange that this is the first time in eight years of marriage that you and i have sat down together to have a serious talk eight years no longer right from our first acquaintance we've never once exchanged a serious word about any serious subject i know now that i've suffered a terrible injustice in my life to hold first from my father than from you you mean the two people who've loved you the most you've never loved me what you've only found it amusing to be in love with me you you've enjoyed owning me it was the same with my father when i lived in his house he told me all his ideas and opinions and they became my ideas and opinions if i had any of my own i had to hide them because he wouldn't have liked it he called me his doll baby and played with me just as i played with my toy dolls then i came to live in your house is that the way you referred to armor i moved from his influence to yours i look back on it now it seems as though i've been living here like a beggar making the best of whatever was offered getting by on second hand which is always yours never my own but having to pretend they were and through it all i've had to perform my little tricks and play at being wife and daughter without ever really being anything at all haven't you been happy here no not really happiness was was just a game like everything else this house has been nothing but a kind of play room i've been your doll wife here the way i was father's dog baby at home have been my dolls you were right you know i'm not fit to be their mother i said that in anger it's true i'm not equipped then you must learn i'll help you i have to grow up first before i can be of any use to them i have to complete my own education before i can undertake theirs i need help god knows but not from you torval you're not the man i can only do it alone you're not thinking of leaving me i am leaving you yes i have to be alone to know myself and to understand the world outside well i i won't let you go nor i won't permit it please don't try to stop me christine will take me in for the night i'm sure i forbid you you have no right to forbid me anything not anymore i won't take anything with me tomorrow i'll i'll ask christine to come and pack a bag for me only the things i brought with me when i came can you simply dismiss your sacred duties to your husband your children i haven't done the duty justice sacred my duty to myself you are first and foremost a wife and mother i don't believe that anymore i believe that first and foremost i'm a human being at least i'm going to try to become one i can't settle for other people's logic anymore i i have to find the truth for myself what you're doing isn't just contrary to other people's logic as you call it it's against god i don't believe that either what do you believe do you believe in anything have you no religious principles whatever i suppose not i don't even know what religion is you don't mean that why i remember the things the minister taught us when i was confirmed he told us what religion was or what he believed it was i never knew if it was so for me i still don't perhaps now i can find out why don't you tell me the whole truth you don't love me anymore no torpor i don't you can say it to me like that i'm sorry i can't help it i don't love you anymore when did you stop tonight when the wonderful thing failed to happen i suddenly realized that you weren't in any way the man i thought you were what thing the thing i've been waiting for all these years the miracle every day every long frightened day i thought to myself tomorrow it will happen tomorrow the sky will fall croaks that will expose me and the truth will come out and when it does and it all comes crashing down on me torval will step forward and say my wife is innocent i'm the guilty you wanted me to take your blame i never would have allowed you to i would have killed myself to prevent you i only expected you to offer but you didn't and when you got over your fright oh not for me for yourself when the threat had vanished you wanted to behave as though nothing whatever had happened and i was i was your little squirrel again your your doll even more fragile now even more to be watched and sheltered but that moment i i suddenly realized that for eight years i've been living with a stranger i don't know you and when i think that i've borne you three children i could tear myself to pieces nora at least wait until morning no i can't spend the night in a strange man's house i can't believe this is happening will you never think of me and the children in this house right here no please at least nothing i can't accept anything from strangers all right can i ever be anything to you but a stranger the most wonderful thing of all would have to happen we should both have to change so much no i don't believe in miracles anymore and let me believe we would both have to change so much that our life together might be a real marriage goodbye norah most wonderful thing of all [Music] miracles [Music] so [Music] do so [Music] do [Music] foreign [Music] you